Puritans at Home: A Conversation About Marriage, Love, and Family
When:
Monday, Sep 26, 2016 7:00p -
8:30p
Monday, Sep 26, 2016 7:00p -
8:30p
Where:
Old State House Museum
206 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02109
Admission:
FREE
Categories:
Date Idea, Lectures & Conferences, Meetup
Event website:
http://passionate_puritans_26sept.eventbrite.com
The Puritan house was a crowded one - parents, children, slaves, and extended family all shared close quarters. But family life in 17th-century Boston was more benign than you might think. This event will make you reconsider your preconceptions about disapproving Puritans…at least behind closed doors! In fact, the Puritan marriage was – by 17th-century standards, anyway – a source of growing equality to women.
In this unique interactive discussion, scholar Abby Chandler shares information about 17th-century families and daily life in Massachusetts. She’ll compare Puritan and modern family structures and realities, adding context to the discussion through sharing historical artifacts from 17th-century homes. She’ll also describe female and male roles in marriage, and how these roles created the Puritan ideal of the family as a “little commonwealth” – their metaphor for a healthy society.
Visiting scholar: Abby Chandler, PhD
Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Author, Law and Sexual Misconduct in New England, 1650-1750
Discussion moderator: Nathaniel Sheidley, PhD,
Historian and Director of Public History, The Bostonian Society
About Boston Charter Day
Every fall, in honor of the naming of Boston, the Partnership of Historic Bostons hosts the Boston Charter Day series of events, a multitude of free programs exploring an intriguing aspect of Puritan life. This year’s Boston Charter Day theme is Passionate Puritans: Marriage, Love, and Sex in 17th-Century Massachusetts. To see a list of the entire series of FREE events, please visit our website at http://www.historicbostons.org.
